Metacognition unravelled

Yesterday I asked myself: "Metacognition, self regulated learning, self directed learning - which is which? And what is motivation? Affect? Metacognitive experience? How does motivation relate to metacognition?"

If I was an educationalist, I would just be content to raise the questions and not bother answering them (OK, that may be unfair :-P ). However, as a computer scientist, I feel compelled to make a tree like structure to represent the hierarchical structure of these concepts. The beauty of doing something so structured is that it becomes very apparent when there is conflict between different researchers' definitions. There was an issue of Educational Psychology Review in 2008(vol 20) devoted to unravelling some of these issues, and it would have been very helpful to me if one of the authors had bothered to draw such a diagram. The closest someone came to it was Kaplan, who said that metacognition, self-regulation and self regulated learning should "be considered subtypes of the general abstract phenomenon of self regulated action" (Kaplan, 2008; p477). Well, that can't be right, unless you're going to allow non-useful overlap between these definitions. Researchers generally consider metacognition to be part of self regulation, so they shouldn't be on the same level in the hierarchy. Furthermore, self regulated learning is considered by Dinsomore and pals (Dinsmore, Alexander and Loughlin, 2008) to be a field developed to take account of both metacognition and self regulation. So go figure. It shouldn't be a sibling of them in the hierarchy either.
If you're a big fan of metacognition and know your onions on this stuff, please do let me know if you have a correction (I will update as I read more). I may be missing some big obvious part of the literature. If you're not a big fan of metacognition you probably haven't read this far. Very wise.

References
Boekaerts & Monique (2003). `Towards a model that integrates motivation, affect and learning'. BJEP Monograph Series II, Number 2 - Development and Motivation1(1):173-189.

S. Coutinho & G. Neuman (2008). `A model of metacognition, achievement goal orientation, learning style and self-efficacy'. Learning Environments Research11(2):131-151.

D. Dinsmore, et al. (2008). `Focusing the Conceptual Lens on Metacognition, Self-regulation, and Self-regulated Learning'. Educational Psychology Review20(4):391-409.

A. Kaplan (2008). `Clarifying Metacognition, Self-Regulation, and Self-Regulated Learning: What's the Purpose?'. Educational Psychology Review20(4):477-484.

Flavell, J. H. (1979). Metacognition and cognitive monitoring: A new area of cognitive-developmental inquiry. American Psychologist, 34, 906-911.

S. Loyens, et al. (2008). `Self-Directed Learning in Problem-Based Learning and its Relationships with Self-Regulated Learning'. Educational Psychology Review20(4):411-427.

A. Vrugt & F. Oort (2008). `Metacognition, achievement goals, study strategies and academic achievement: pathways to achievement'. Metacognition and Learning3(2):123-146.

(Need to find better reference that this: ERIC #: ED502151
Title: Cognitions about Cognitions: The Theory of Metacognition
Authors: PP, Noushad
Publication Date: 2008-07-20
Pub Types: Reports - Descriptive
Journal Name: Online Submission
Journal Citation:
Publisher:
Descriptors: Metacognition; Problem Solving; Motivation; Learning Strategies
ERIC Full-Text: http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/contentdelivery/servlet/ERICServlet?accno=ED502151)

Comments

[Nicole]

Yep, you're right, I would have just pointed out the different schools of thoughts and left it at that. This diagramme is impressive and ... I stared at it for 20 minutes and came to the conclusion I really don't think in diagrammes. I'll write it up in dorky old paragraphs. This is really interesting.

[Judy Robertson]

I have the dorky paras too if you want them. :-) But the reason the hierarchy matters is that I am trying to categorise text using these definitions as part of my analysis, so the accuracy of the terms I use and how they relate to each other matters. As you know from our inter rater reliability session.

[Generic Viagra]

Fabulous article! is from my Bookmarked!!
beautiful blog.. i like read this page. thanks and God bless..